Northwest Notebook. Schools.

Summer Experience Grows In Fox River Grove

July 13, 1997|By Margaret Van Duch. Special to the Tribune.

Parents in many northwest suburbs have numerous summer recreation choices for their kids. In the growing community of Fox River Grove, however, those kinds of activities are just beginning to take root.

In the meantime, Sharon-Diane McAtee, a physical education teacher at Algonquin Road School, has stepped in to help the parents out. She offers a two-week Summer Experience for kindergartners through 5th graders. Children can enroll in gymnastics or a sports sampler class.

McAtee started the program eight years ago because the community was lacking in summer youth activities. "We now have a recreation program that offers basketball, soccer and baseball and will eventually offer more in the summer," she said. "But now if they want something more, parents have to go to another town to find it, and that is more costly."

The sports sampler class focuses on throwing, catching and running; the gymnastics session works on such skills as tumbling.

Carmen Rilling has had her two boys in the program since her 9-year-old was in kindergarten. "It's good to know their energy is invested in something positive," Rilling said.

Diana Cobler said her two boys look up to the older students who volunteer as coaches. "I'm impressed with the individual attention they get," Cobler said. "The older students are enthusiastic and enjoy being with the younger kids."